A biodiversity hotspot is a distinct biogeographic region that possesses exceptionally high concentrations of endemic plant and animal species while simultaneously experiencing severe habitat degradation and imminent threat of extinction. Conceptualized in 1988 by British ecologist Norman Myers in a seminal academic paper, the hotspot framework introduced a practical, quantitative methodology for global conservation prioritization. Rather than dispersing limited international conservation funds uniformly across the globe, the hotspot approach directs scientific resources, legal protections, and ecological financing toward geographic regions where preserving remaining habitats yields the greatest preservation of global biodiversity.
To be officially classified as a biodiversity hotspot under the standardized framework institutionalized by Conservation International, a biogeographical territory must satisfy two strict, quantitative criteria. First, it must exhibit high species endemism: the region must harbor at least one thousand five hundred endemic species of vascular plants, representing more than zero point five percent of the world's total plant diversity. Endemic species are those found exclusively within that defined geographical boundary and nowhere else on Earth. Second, the region must be under extreme threat: it must have lost at least seventy percent of its original primary native vegetation, meaning that thirty percent or less of its natural ecological habitat remains intact today.
Globally, thirty-six regions qualify as biodiversity hotspots. Combined, their remaining intact habitats cover just two point four percent of Earth's total land surface, yet they house more than half of the world's endemic plant species and approximately forty-three percent of all terrestrial bird, mammal, reptile, and amphibian species. India represents a nation of immense global conservation significance because it encompasses four major biodiversity hotspots: the Western Ghats (stretching along the western coast), the Eastern Himalayas (covering Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, and surrounding hills), the Indo-Burma region (encompassing northeast India south of the Brahmaputra), and Sundaland (which includes the ecologically pristine Nicobar archipelago).
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